OOM: A Map to the Future

[last_kallig]

(OOC: Some lines taken from canon. Possible trigger warning for an NPC eating people.)

Overseer Harkun's face betrays him for a moment when Ibani walked into his office entirely unharmed and not even disheveled. So, he HAD made that bargain with the twins. Ibani wishes that she could be surprised at that.

His face quickly twists into a sneer. "Well, well. Look who showed up at long last. I half expected to hear you'd crossed some Dark Lord upstairs and finally got yourself killed."

Ibani smiles politely. "I didn't run into anything I couldn't handle, Overseer." Acknowledgment that she knows what he tried to pull and a barb at the ineffectiveness of his "help".

Harkun's sneer twists further with cruel humor. "Your final trial will be to retrieve an ancient map from the innermost chamber of Naga Sadow's tomb - which has never been breached in thousands of years. But before you get the map, you'll have to awaken an ancient assassin called a Dashade that sleeps in the tomb. You cannot access the map without him, understand?"

A DASHADE?! Oh, KRIFF . Strong, incredibly resistant to Force abilities and with an insatiable appetite for the flesh of Force Sensitives, there are few worse one on one matches for an Acolyte in the galaxy. Ibani only knows about the mostly lost race because she's dug through some very obscure archives, and none of THOSE were at all helpful on explaining how the ancient Sith bound the Dashade to service. To cover her distress, she snarks at Harkun. "Yes, yes, yes....you send me into a tomb to do the impossible, hoping I die, and I come back and prove you wrong. You're becoming predictable, Overseer."

That....is apparently pushing Harkun a smidge too far. A small burst of Force Lightning hits her, the agony curling down her nerves.

"And one more, thing, slave," he adds when the lightning subsides. "You'll be competing with Ffon for the map and he's already started. I suggest you run."

Bastard.

Comments

[infinitest]

The Bastard also did not mention the massive tomb is packed with Acolytes in their final trials, and more than one is very willing to attempt to eliminate a possible rival.

Ibani has to fight her way in, while seeking the deeper levels, past the more well-known paths.

A good way down and deep, she comes across an odd statue, and humanoid figure kneeling, head bowed, holding a decorated metal rod in a submissive offering stance.

[last_kallig]

Of course he did. She's come to EXPECT that from him by now. (If she's entertaining thoughts of the Dashade eating Harkun, well, she's only human.)

Ibani is very, very, tired of killing acolytes by the time she makes her way in and down. She's lost count of the bodies she's left in her wake, and her personal property has increased by several warblades, 200 credits, and a handful of kolto packs.

She pauses near the statue to catch her breath. That submissive, offering pose....the Ancient Sith were notorious for locking things with puzzles of one kind or another. Ibani extends her senses toward the statue and finds nothing suspicious. She eases the rod out of the statue's hands with the Force from out of trap distance just in case she's wrong.

Nothing goes off, thankfully, and she stows the rod with the recently acquired warblades. "Why do I have the feeling there are going to be more of these?" she muses out loud.

[infinitest]

Likely because she is not naive.

As Ibani advances deeper into the tomb, she finds three more decorated rods, and finally, an altar with four pedestals around.

Little surprise the markings on the rods match markings on said pedestals.

[last_kallig]

Very true.

"Hm. Looks like I just put the rods in the right holes," she muses. She was expecting something weirder, honestly.

Ah, the Force. So handy for putting things into other things that may or may not be trapped while your soft, squishy flesh is on the other side of the room.

The last rod slides home and....nothing happens. Ibani glares at the altar and calls it a very unflattering name in Huttese.

What NOW? Ibani ponders her situation for a moment, remembering how she got the pillar to let the holocron go in her third trial.

"Worth a shot." Ibani draws the Force to herself, a crackling aura of purple power surrounding her body. She shapes the power into Force Lightning and sends it at the four rods. "OPEN!!" she commands.

[infinitest]

The Force heeds her order, lightning flowing between the rods, then back to her... not as lightning, but as pure energy, dark and heavy with the echoes of the power of a long-dead Sith Lord. It's overwhelming and strangely intoxicating, threatening to sweep her off her feet.

But indeed, the ancient mechanism obeys, and a section of the wall slides open to reveal a huge concealed chamber.

And several ancient guardian droids; of the armed, fully functional type.

[last_kallig]

The energy is indeed intoxicating, a sweet and terrible rush of power and certainty. For a moment, she feels as though nothing and no one could possibly stand in the way of her terrible might, that enemies surely cower before her. She can't see her eyes glowing purple as the power suffuses her body, can't see the crackling purple aura around her body grow brighter.

The dangers of the dark side are many, Ibani knows. Intoxicating as this is, it is much too dangerous to hang onto for very long. Thankfully, those ancient guardian droids will provide an excellent outlet for the remnants of that outside power that remain inside of her.

Droid chassis blacken under an assault of force lightning and ancient servos and metal rods are ripped apart by telekinetic force. They are strong, but she is stronger.

Ibani takes a deep breath, focusing for a moment to clear her head. "There will be more, and I must be ready for them."

[infinitest]

Soon there will be more, indeed; but right now, the hallway stretches into a catwalk and the catwalk connects to strange machinery. There, suspended in a stasis field, guarded by the flow of lightning, sleeps a strange humanoid creature, plates of metal and cybernetic implants melded seamlessly to its flesh.

The Dashade...

[last_kallig]

Ibani feels a bit of trepidation as she sees the catwalk and the Dashade suspended in the strange machinery. She eyes the area, studying the ground for the fight that is likely to come. She has a feeling that the Dashade isn't going to obey a potential meal just because it asks nicely.

She takes a deep breath, pushes the fear aside, and walks down toward the statis field. Hopefully the controls for the statis field will be intuitive as opposed to frustratingly opaque.

[infinitest]

As she approaches, the creature opens its eyes and stares at Ibani. "The whole universe conspires to mock me" it speaks in the ancient Sith language, with a growled 'accent'. "Tulak Hord, I waited for you, I did all you wanted of me, and this is what you send?"

[last_kallig]

Even the Sith purebloods don't speak the Sith language much anymore, which means the Dashade is indeed ancient.

Ibani addresses him in the same tongue. "It seems my Master was right and Tulak Hord did place you in this tomb."

She has no idea how the Dashade is managing to be awake and aware in the stasis field, but the Dashade's activity does not bode well for the field's strength. "By what name should I call you?"

[infinitest]

The Dashade regards Ibani with reptilian eyes and predatory gaze. "I am Khem Val, servant of Tulak Hord, devourer of the rebels at Yn and Chabosh" it growls. "Together we brought the Dromund System to its knees."

"And I am hungry." No, that was not ominous at all.

[last_kallig]

Having a creature look at you as a meal is something Ibani's used to, thanks to tukata and shyracks. But, Khem Val is a PERSON, and she's not used to people looking at her as if she was a piece of chocolate wrapped in bacon.

Force, it's horribly creepy and disturbing!!

"Khem Val, I fear I must bring you ill news," she begins, certain that this is necessary but not going to end well. "Tulak Hord has been dead for centuries."

[infinitest]

And that makes the creature roar in anguish and hate, straining against the invisible bonds of the stasis field. "Dead?!? NO! My master, why haven't you come for me? I would have died by your side; no, I'd have slain death itself!"

"Fate is cruel, little Sith, for me and for you" lightning crackles as the Dashade flexes titanic muscles. "You should not have come here, because... I... am... hungry!"

It's... it's breaking free!

[last_kallig]

Oh, Kark it! Later, there will be time for pondering how attached Khem Val appears to have been to his master, to feel sympathy for his loss and his anger. Right now it's time to stay alive!

Ibani draws her blade, holding it vertically with both hands on the right side of her body, the opening stance of the Ataru style. Dashade are resistant to Force abilities and she doesn't want to stay within his reach where he can tear her apart.

Ibani calls the Force to herself to enhance her speed, strength and reactions. With her body properly enhanced by the Force, the Hawk-Bat Swoop maneuver will hopefully allow her to rush in, strike, and retreat before Khem Val can react.

[infinitest]

She is helped by the fact that centuries in stasis weakened the Dashade, and the effort to break free finished the job; the strike lands just as Kehm Val starts to get up, making him fall to his knees with a roar of pain. "Rawgh! Defeated... defeated... why didn't you come for me, Tulak Hord? Why do you allow your servant to be reduced to this?"

[last_kallig]

Ibani keeps her blade at the ready and pointed toward him, just in case the battle isn't over.

"Do you yield?" she asks, solemn. She hopes he does, because she's not certain how much she can hurt him without KILLING him.

[infinitest]

It glares at Ibani, then snorts. "Fine, little one. In my great weakness, you defeated me, so I must serve you; this is the law that binds me."

The Dashade pulls itself to its feet, eying the wound the blade left. "But you are not my real master; you are just lucky and your strength is a pale shadow of Tulak Hord's."

[last_kallig]

Ibani can feel the truth in his words of being bound to serve her, and it makes her vastly uncomfortable. Being bound to serve someone you clearly hate is...wrong on so many levels. (It rather smacks of slavery, in fact.) On the other hand, he would certainly kill and EAT her if he was free, along with who knows how many other Force Sensitives.

For now, uncomfortable as this is for her, the situation must stand. "Of course I don't measure up to Tulak Hord," Ibani replies with a wry smile. "I am young, and your Master had years upon years of battles and conquests under his belt."

Ibani also eyes the wound she left on him. "Do you require healing? she asks as she searches through the warblades she's collected to find the one closest to being the appropriate heft for Khem.

"I am seeking a map held in the innermost chamber of this tomb, do you know of it?"

[infinitest]

"If you didn't find it yet, it must be in the lower chambers." The Dashade seems to not even acknowledge the question about healing, pointing at a set of stairs and catwalks to the side of the huge chamber.

[last_kallig]

Ibani offers the best of the warblades she's collected to Khem hilt first.

"Then that's our next stop." She doesn't press him about the healing. If he collapses or something she can always heal him THEN. (And a small, not very nice part of her points out that things would be much easier if Khem Val died in this tomb. She pushes the thought away as best she can.)

Down the set of stairs and catwalks they go until the feel of Dark Side Sith Sorcery is so thick that it makes it hard to breath. What looks like a simple boulder blocks their path, but the power here tells Ibani that things are not so simple. The wrong person trying to move that rock is liable to beg for the sweet release of death before the end finally arrives.

[infinitest]

It should be another ominous sign that Khem Val seems hardly bothered by the Dark Side energies filling the deepest levels of the tomb; the Dashade regards the rock with clear disdain.

And a snort.

[last_kallig]

Ominous yes, but useful! She's not in a position to turn away help even if the help thinks of her as a tasty snack.

"Doesn't look that impressive," Ibani quips. "I would have at least sprung for ominous runes and an actual DOOR." Because there is such a thing as STANDARDS when it comes to tomb traps.

"If you would remove the boulder please, Khem."

[infinitest]

The Dashade eyes Ibani, but makes no comment; the large boulder is grasped by taloned hands and massive arms, Dark Side energies flowing like a mist and small arcs of electricity.

Kehm Val seems hardly more bothered than by a few bug bites, and rolls the boulder out of the way, revealing a long darkened hallway; but then the Dashade stops and sniffs the air. "Something smells of anger, little sith."

[last_kallig]

Khem's resistance to the Force is quite impressive, and she's VERY glad she didn't try to use Force abilities to subdue him earlier.

Ibani starts to enter the hallway, but pauses at his comment. She reaches out with the Force, only to feel something old, hungry, and unnatural lurking in the room beyond; that something comes out of the shadows as Ibani cautiously takes a few more steps, a Terentatek, but one far larger than any she's heard of before.

Force resistant and hungry for the blood of Force-Sensitives, the Terentatek will not go down easily.

[infinitest]

Yet another reason to let Khem Val charge in, roaring what might be a battle cry; the Terentatek is even slightly intimidated by the bold charge, but swings at the Dashade anyway.

That is quickly revealed to be a mistake: Khem Val strikes at the creature's limb, slicing hide, flesh and tendons, smashing bone. The large beast staggers back, roaring in pain, and its bone-armor barely prevents the Dashade from skewering its brain.